Malted Chamomile Sprinkle Cookie
And a little rainbow story.
Hi new people 👋
Before I get into today’s post I thought I would briefly reintroduce myself for some new followers here!
My name is Jordan and I’m a baker and recipe developer living in Brooklyn NY. I started this newsletter to have an outlet for new recipes and writing. Today’s entry is a longer personal story but I sometimes write about the history of a favorite ingredient or baked good. I post two to three times a month and try to keep this space a casual outlet for creativity in betwixt my day job as a book seller and my freelance baking shenanigans and pastry popups. Thank you for being here!
I have this running joke to myself about what must happen in bakeries across the country at the end of Pride Month. In my mind, thousands of bakers awake on the first of July, dutifully arriving at work before the sun rises. Reluctantly and with a somber expression they gently place their plastic shaker of rainbow sprinkles onto its resting place perched high upon a shelf somewhere in dry storage. Until June rolls back around, there shall be no more sprinkles.
This silly scene has roots in my firsthand experience working in bakeries but also from finding myself on the other side of the counter as a slightly younger and more eager customer. I remember the first time I saw a huge layer cake with rings of smooth buttercream dyed in the near-neon colors of a rainbow to celebrate Pride weekend in San Francisco in 2019. At the time it was a completely new experience for me to see a business openly celebrating or even acknowledging the LGBTQ community. The cake felt like a radical act just sitting quietly on its pedestal.
I was freshly out and barely settled into the first big city I had ever lived in. Thousands of miles and a world away politically speaking from where I grew up in Alabama, I was finally running toward what I had always run from. I was dating for the first time and the guy i’d fallen deeply for was by my side for my first Pride parade. We stopped into the bakery for a quick breakfast before finding a spot on Market Street to take it all in. We didn’t order the rainbow cake but I snapped a photo so I wouldn’t forget it.
Unknown to me at the time but just a few months later I would interview and start working at a second location of the same bakery just a little ways down the street. A sudden job loss and my first heart break would propel me to move from Berkeley into the foggy embrace of the Inner Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco. I would go on to say it was to eliminate my newly acquired commute but it was more an attempt to start over and be even closer to the gay daydream existence i’d originally longed for.
Nearly a year passed and added to the many lessons I would learn about dating and baking was a deeper understanding of what representation means. I would listen to friends and community members who described how they didn’t always feel seen or represented by the rainbow flag, especially with many businesses cooping the symbol just to bring in extra revenue during June. These conversations were having an effect on me and I was quickly learning through both comfort and discomfort, where I wanted to place my trust when it came to true allyship and community building.
Emboldened, I began to ask anytime I saw a rainbow motif incorporated in a pastry case “Where are the proceeds being directed?” “Which organization are you partnering with?” I was always polite but I had no problem pressing the point that if the community’s purses were being teased open, the flow of support needed to circle back around to do some good for those who were supposedly being celebrated.
By the time the next June rolled around, I felt more settled in my new home and at the bakery. I had made the jump to the pastry team, working the 5:00AM shift five days a week. At home, I was beginning to tip toe into developing my own recipes after years of following the careful instructions of my growing cookbook collection. I had some hits and misses but felt emboldened to ask for more creative opportunities at work. Amidst a global pandemic with an uncertain Pride month on the horizon I proposed to the owner of the bakery that we should develop not just one but a series of rainbow cookies to be sold in the bakery during Pride weekend.
I didn’t fully know what I was getting into but I typed up a full proposal for each of the six cookies as if I was defending my thesis before a graduate committee. I wanted to be fully prepared in case there was resistance or questions about leadership taking a chance on me. At the bottom of the email I mentioned that it was important to me that a portion of the proceeds go to a local LGBTQ organization. To further decrease the likelihood of being rejected, I proposed a very modest 10%. I nervously hit send.
Two days later I read through the short response two or three times just to make sure I was understanding correctly. The owner loved the idea. So much so that she wanted to sell the cookies for the entire month, at multiple locations, and with 100% of proceeds going to the organization of my choice. I was gobsmacked. I spent a few days smiling brighter than anyone should have been smiling in May of 2020. Once I returned to earth I set my focus on the huge task of developing six new recipes in a large scale production kitchen that never stopped or slowed down. This project wouldn’t replace my workload, only add to it. I was very fortunate though to have the full support of the head pastry chef and the other members of the pastry team who would help test each cookie and provide feedback when a batch would fail.
We worked over the remaining weeks of May until we had six solid recipes. Each stripe of the Pride flag was represented with a unique flavor and naturally colored with things like turmeric, spinach powder, and ground annatto seeds. The bakery offered preorders online and sold sets of all six of the cookies throughout the month for easier grab and go sales. At the end of the month we had raised a total of $4,000 for Lyric, an organization that supports San Francisco’s LGBTQ teens. I couldn’t believe how successful we’d been.
The whole experience lit a fire under me that has lead me to where I am today. The chance that was taken on me as a naive but hopeful baker gave me the confidence to continue honing my skills as a recipe developer. It encouraged me to push for more opportunities and access for my community whenever possible and showed me that sometimes the timing and environment are ripe for action, you just need someone to speak up and get the ball rolling. I think about this experience every time I see a rainbow pastry now and remind myself that even if the sprinkles go back on the shelf in July, if utilized correctly the positive effects can be felt year round.
If you’ve been following the news, you’ll know that the Trump administration is rapidly withdrawing funding from the organizations that provide healthcare to the LGBTQ/queer community. The recently passed spending bill will reduce healthcare access to the most financially vulnerable in our society. I myself have benefited from programs like Medicaid and it’s hard to image where I would be without such a vital lifeline. If you feel compelled to donate to protect LGBTQ healthcare access in NYC, you can do so here. Thank you. 💖
Because I know some of you will be curious, here are the flavors of the cookies!
Red - Strawberry Sumac
Orange - Chai Masala Carrot Cake
Yellow - Candied Ginger & Turmeric
Green - Green Smoothie (spinach powder, dehydrated apples and bananas)
Blue - Blueberry (gluten free)
Purple - Blackberry Raspberry
Today’s recipe…
I developed this recipe for a pop up in June where I donated part of my proceeds to Callen Lorde, the LGBTQ healthcare center in NYC. I’ve been a patient there for the last two years and the work they’ve done in my life and others is vital. For this recipe, I wanted to add a little complexity to what is usually just a sugar cookie wearing a fancy coat of sprinkles. Malted milk powder adds some depth and the chamomile plays nicely with the buttery sweetness.
A few notes…
It’s important to thoroughly cream the butter and sugars together. I like to set timers during the mixing to help keep me on track. This incorporation of air makes a lighter cookie with pleasant wrinkles and surface texture, especially if you round the cookies with a cutter or glass while they’re still warm. Watch
do it here.For the sprinkles, I love to use a mix of different brands and colors. I lean more towards naturally dyed options because the colors are more unique and eye catching but anything you have will work!
If you don’t like chamomile, I recommend Earl Gray as a great substitute!
Malted Chamomile Sprinkle Cookie
makes 16-24 cookies depending on size
227g unsalted butter, room temperature
170g white sugar
140g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 heaping tablespoon or 2 tea bags of ground chamomile tea
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
360g all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 tablespoons malted milk powder
1 to 2 cups sprinkles
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugars, salt, and chamomile tea for 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture is lighter in color and has increased in volume. It’ll look a little like frosting when it’s ready. Scrap down the bowl every minute or so, being sure to get down to the very bottom where unmixed butter likes to hide.
With the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time. Mix for 30 seconds to 1 minute before scraping down the bowl. After the last egg, add the vanilla extract and mix on low until it disappears.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and place it on a kitchen scale. Tare the scale to zero. Measure out the flour, baking soda, baking powder into the bowl. Pass the milk powder though a small strainer or sieve as you measure it into the bowl. Return the bowl to the mixer and pulse on low to incorporate flour without throwing it out of the bowl. Mix on low until the dough comes together without any dry flour remaining. Remove the bowl and use a silicone spatula to thoroughly scrape the walls and bottom of the bowl. The dough will be a little sticky and wet.
Add the sprinkles to a small bowl. Use a 2 tablespoon scoop for medium sized cookies or a 1/4 cup measuring cup for jumbo cookies to portion out the dough. It’s easiest to scoop the cookies directly into the bowl of sprinkles. Swirl around the bowl to coat the sides and top of the cookies with sprinkles. It’s not critical to coat the bottoms of the scooped dough. Once coated in sprinkles, the cookies can be handled and placed onto a parchment lined sheet tray. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the cookies for at least an 4 hours or up to 48 hours.
When ready to bake - Preheat the oven to 350F with a rack in the upper middle position. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper. If baking 2 tablespoon portions, place 6 to 8 per tray. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the edges are golden and the tops are matte and puffed. If baking 1/4 cup portions, place 4 to 5 per tray and bake for 15 to 17 minutes until the edges are slightly darker and the middle of the cookie is matte and well risen.
Remove the tray from the oven and tap 2 to 3 times on the edge of the counter to deflate the centers, then use a large cookie cutter or cup to round the edges and create a rippled texture across the surface of each cookie. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
I loved this post!! Can’t wait to try out this recipe ☺️☺️